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Hello, thanks for downloading my free Introductory Psychology - Part One (2nd ed.) psy-
chology notes eBook. These notes were taken by me while I was taking college psychology
courses. I have edited and reformatted them so that they are easier to follow. This eBook
covers topics that are taught in most college level introductory psychology courses.
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This icon indicates “review questions”. At the end of each section, I have
included a few “review questions” for you to quiz yourself on.
1) Please note that the purpose of these notes are to guide you. They are not a “system”
or something that will guarantee you a pass in your psychology courses.
2) The contents of these psychology notes are based on the book Myers in Modules by
David G. Myers.
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Alexandra
June, 2014
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Table of Contents
What is Psychology?................................................................ 4
Different Perspectives of Psychology............................................................... 5
Subfields of Psychology.................................................................................. 6
Research Strategies........................................................................................ 6
Review Questions......................................................................................... 10
Neural Systems...................................................................... 11
Neurons and Neural Impulses....................................................................... 11
Review Questions......................................................................................... 12
The Nervous System.............................................................. 13
The Peripheral Nervous System.................................................................... 13
The Central Nervous System......................................................................... 13
Review Questions......................................................................................... 13
The Hormonal System........................................................... 14
The Endocrine System................................................................................... 14
Review Questions......................................................................................... 14
The Brain............................................................................... 15
Brain Structure............................................................................................. 15
The Cerebral Cortex...................................................................................... 16
Review Questions......................................................................................... 18
Genetic influences on Behaviour........................................... 19
Natural Selection.......................................................................................... 19
Behavior Genetics......................................................................................... 19
Review Questions......................................................................................... 20
Environmental Influences on Behaviour................................ 21
Prenatal Environment................................................................................... 21
Experience and Brain Development.............................................................. 21
Peer Influence.............................................................................................. 22
Culture......................................................................................................... 22
Gender......................................................................................................... 22
Review Questions......................................................................................... 23
Prenatal Development and the Newborn............................... 24
Conception and Prenatal Development......................................................... 24
Newborn...................................................................................................... 25
Review Questions......................................................................................... 25
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What is Psychology?
• Many disciplines, from physiology to philosophy.
• In its early years, psychology was defined as the science of Who are they?
mental life.
• W
ilhelm Wundt, both a physiologist and a
philosopher, founded the first psychology
• M
ajor focus was on the internal experiences of conscious- lab at the U of Leipzig in Germany in 1879.
ness, sensations, feelings, and thoughts psychologists relied
upon people’s reports of their conscious experiences in • Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist.
response to various stimuli.
• Sigmund Freud was an Austrian physician.
• 1
920 – 1960: American psychologists redefined psychology • Jean Piaget was a Swiss biologist.
as the science of behavior.
• Mental processes are the internal subjective experiences we infer from behavior.
4 goals of psychology:
• Plato: character and intelligence are largely inherited and that ideas are inborn.
• Aristotle: nothing in the mind that does not first come from the external world through the senses.
• John Locke: the mind is blank at birth and that knowledge comes through sense experience.
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Different Perspectives of Psychology
Neuroscience
• How the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
• Combines physiology, especially the physiology of the brain, with psychology, the study of mental
processes and behavior, and draws as well from the field of chemistry
• The underlying assumption of neuroscience is that for every behavior, feeling, and thought, a corre-
sponding physical event takes place in the brain
• Roger Sperry – his research suggests that the two halves of the brain perform different functions (split
brain)
Evolutionary
• How nature selects traits that promote the perpetuation of one’s genes
Behavior genetics
• How much our genes, and our environment, influence our individual differences
• Studies the mechanisms by which observable responses are acquired and modified in particular envi-
ronments
Psychodynamic
• How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
• The underlying assumption is that unconscious forces are important influences on human
• Psychoanalysis
• Sigmund Freud’s assumptions were that human beings are born with unconscious drives that seek
some kind of outlet or expression from the very start
• Repressed drives continue to demand some kind of expression or satisfaction → manifested indirectly
Behavioural
• How we learn observable responses
• The key assumption is that if psychology is to be a science, it must study only that which is observ-
able, namely behavior
• Study behavioral responses and the way these responses are influenced by stimuli in the environment
• Edward Thorndike proposed the law of effect
• When a behavior is followed by satisfaction, it is “stamped in” and when it is not followed by satisfac-
tion, it is “stamped out”
• John B. Watson launched behaviorism, a philosophy of psychological study which holds that only ob-
servable behavior is the proper subject for psychological investigation
Cognitive
• How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information
• The study of cognition, the ways we process or transform information about the world around us
• Cognition includes the mental processes of thinking, knowing, perceiving, attending, remembering,
and the like
• How we organize, remember, and understand everything we experience
Social-cultural
• How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
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Subfields of Psychology
Research Strategies
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The Scientic Method
• Theory – an explanation using
• A theory is useful if it: an integrated set of principles
- E ffectively organizes a range of self-reports and that organizes and predicts
observations. observations
- Implies clear predictions that anyone cane use to • Hypothesis – a testable prediction, often
check the theor or to derive practical applications. implied by a theory
• Operational definition – a statement of the
• Key steps in the scientific methods: procedures (operations) used to define
research variables
1. Specify the problem
+ The hypothesis must be stated in a clear, focused, and testable manner
2. Design the study
+ Requires creating operational definitions of key elements of the study
+ An operational definition is a definition stated in terms that can be ob-
served and measured → prevent bias
+ Single-blind procedure: the subjects are kept uninformed about the hypoth-
esis of the study so that this knowledge does not unconsciously affect their
behavior
+ Double-blind procedure: both the subjects and the researcher analyzing
the data of the study are kept uninformed about the hypothesis → prevent
experimenter bias
3. Collect the data
4. Report the conclusions
+ Publishing a study allows other researcher to examine a study for errors,
biases, and faulty logic
Case Study
• Individual cases are studied in great depth and detail and used to suggest what is true to us all
• The extensive study of all or part of the life history of an individual
• 3 major uses:
1. Understand and help people with psychological disorders
•Know what sort of person the patient is
•What sort of difficulties he or she is experiencing
•How the patient’s difficulties developed
2. A means of illustrating ideas and relationships in teaching
3. An important research tool
•Used to suggest theories or hypotheses about human behavior
• Pose questions but do not answer them → generate but do not confirm hypotheses
• Offer in-depth insights that may offer clues to what is true of others but if the case is atypical,
they may mislead
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Survey
• Random sample - a sample that
• A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behav- fairly represents a population be-
iors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random cause each member has an equal
sample of them chance of inclusion.
• Limitations: • False consensus effect – the ten-
o Assume that questions are clear and unbiased dency to overestimate the extent
o Respondents will answer them honestly to which others share our beliefs
o Respondents are representative of the total popula- and behaviors.
tion one is studying
• In conducting surveys, researches first attempt to identify the population, or group of sub-
jects, they wish to survey. Then they use statistical methods to pick a random but represen-
tative sample of that population.
• Often reveal information that runs counter to common sense and prior beliefs
• Can accurately reveal the tendencies of large populations. But if the questions are leading, or if nonran-
dom samples are queried, the results can again mislead us.
Naturalistic Observation
• Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate
and control the situation
• A method of study in which:
o Subjects are observed in their natural environments
o The observer does not attempt to interfere with the natural behavior of the subjects
• In the best type of naturalistic observation, the subjects are not aware that they are being ob-
served
• Does not explain behavior
• Enables study of behavior undisturbed by researchers. But the lack of control may leave cause
and effect ambiguous
• Disadvantages:
o Researchers have less control over what happens in the natural environment
o More difficult to see the casual relationship among specific variables in a natural set-
ting than in a laboratory → often used in conjunction with other methods
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Experimentation
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Statistical Reasoning
Review Questions
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Neural Systems
Neurons and Neural Impulses
A strong stimulus can trigger more neurons to fire and to fire more often.
· When the action potential reaches the axon’s end, it triggers the release of chemical messengers,
called neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitter molecules cross the synaptic gap and bind to re-
ceptor sites on the receiving neuron. For an instant, the neurotransmitter unlocks tiny channels at
the receiving site, allowing ions to enter the receiving neuron, thereby either exciting or inhibiting
its readiness to fire.
· Agonists excite the neurons by mimicking a particular neurotransmitter or blocking its reuptake.
· Antagonists inhibit by blocking neurotransmitters or by diminishing their release.
· A blood-brain barrier enables the brain to fence out unwanted chemicals circulating in the blood,
and some chemicals don’t have the right shape to slither through this barrier.
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Review Questions
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· 2 components:
1) The somatic nervous system
o Controls the movements of our skeletal muscles.
2) The autonomic nervous system
o Controls the glands and the muscles of our internal organs.
o It is a dual system:
1. The sympathetic nervous system
• Arouses us for defensive action.
• E.g. accelerate your heartbeat, slow your digestion, raise your blood
sugar…etc.
2. The parasympathetic nervous system
• Calms the body, conserving its energy.
· The spinal cord is an information highway connecting the PNS to the brain.
o Ascending neural tracts send up sensory information.
o Descending tracts send back motor-control information.
o Reflex – a simple, automatic, inborn response to a sensory stimulus, such as the
knee-jerk response.
• The pain reflex pathway runs through the spinal cord and
out, our hand jerks from the flame before your brain receives
and responds to the information that
causes you to feel pain. • Neural networks – intercon-
• Neural impulses involved in reflexes nected neural cells. With ex-
bypass the brain. perience, networks can learn,
· The brain receives information, interprets it, and decides as feedback strengthens or
responses. inhibits connections that pro-
duce certain results.
Review Questions
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· The body’s “slow” chemical communication system; a set of glands that secrete hormones into
the blood stream.
· The most influential endocrine gland is the pituitary gland. Under the influence of the hypothala-
mus, the pituitary gland regulates growth and controls other endocrine glands.
Review Questions
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The Brain
Brain Structure
1. The Brainstem
· The oldest part and central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells (the
medulla) as it enters the skull.
· Responsible for automatic survival functions.
· The medulla controls heartbeat and breathing.
· The reticular formation is a nerve network in the brainstem that plays an important role in
controlling arousal.
2. The Thalamus
· The brain’s sensory switchboard, located on top of the brainstem.
· Receives information from all the senses except smell and routes it to the higher brain re-
gions that deal with seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching.
· Also receives some of the higher brain’s replies, which it then directs to the cerebellum and
medulla.
3. The Cerebellum
· The “little brain” at-
tached to the rear of the
brainstem.
· Helps coordinate vol-
untary movement and
balance.
4.
The Limbic System
· A doughnut-shaped sys-
tem of neural structures
at the border of the
brainstem and cerebral
hemispheres.
· Associated with emotions such as fear and anger and drives such as food and sex.
· Includes 3 components:
1. The Amygdala
o 2 almond-shaped neural clusters.
o Influence aggression and fear.
2. The Hypothalamus
o A neural structure lying below the thalamus
o Directs several maintenance activities, e.g. eating, drinking, body tempera-
ture.
o Helps govern the endocrine system via the pituitary gland.
3. The hippocampus
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· The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that covers the cerebral hemi-
spheres.
· The body’s ultimate control and information processing centre.
· Association areas – areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary mo-
tor or sensory functions.
o They are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering,
thinking, and speaking.
o The association areas in the frontal lobes enable us to judge, plan and process
new memores.
• Broca’s area – an area of the frontal lobe, usually in
· In response to changing stimulation, the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle move-
the brain can either rewire itself with ments involved in speech.
new synapses or select new uses for • Wernicke’s area – a brain area involved in language
its prewired circuits. comprehension and expression; usually in the left
o When one brain area is temporal lobe.
damaged, other areas • Plasticity – the brain’s capacity for modification.
• Split brain – a condition in which the two hemi-
may in time reorganize spheres of the brain are isolated by cutting the
and take over some of connecting fibers, corpus callosum, between them.
its functions. • Corpus callosum – the large band of neural fibers
o Children are born with connecting the two brain hemispheres and carry-
a surplus of neurons. If ing messages between them.
an injury destroys one
part of a child’s brain,
the brain will compensate by putting other surplus areas to
work.
· The split-brain research shows that the left hemisphere is adept at making quick,
literal interpretations of language, the right hemisphere excels in making subtle infer-
ences.
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Review Questions
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Behavior Genetics
· The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences
on behavior.
Twin Studies
· Identical twins are genetically identical
· Fraternal twins are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environ-
ment.
Adoption Studies
· People who grow up together, whether biologically related or not, do not much resemble one
another in personality.
Temperament Studies
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Review Questions
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· Compared with same-placenta identical twins, those who develop with separate placentas are
somewhat less similar in their psychological traits.
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Peer Influence
· Part of the similarity to peers may result from a “selection effect” as kids seek out peers
with similar attitudes and interests.
· Howard Gardner – parents and peers are complementary.
o Parents are more important when it comes to education, discipline, responsibility,
orderliness, charitableness, and ways of interacting with authority figures.
o Peers are more important for learning cooperation, for finding the road to popular-
ity, for inventing styles of interaction among people of the same age.
Gender
· Differences between the sexes arise, genetically from their differing sex chromosomes and,
physiologically, from their differing concentrations of sex hormones.
· 7 weeks after conception – anatomically indistinguishable from someone of the other sex.
· Your sex is determined by your 23rd pair of chromosomes, the sex chromosomes.
o X chromosome – the sex chro-
mosome found in both men and
women. Females have two X Genes and hormones help define gender,
chromosomes; males have one. An but environment plays a key role too.
X chromosome from each parent
produces a female.
o Y chromosome – the sex chromo-
some found only in males. When
paired with an X sex chromosome
from the mother, it produces a
male child.
· 4th and 5th prenatal months – differ-
ent brain-wiring patterns for males and
females develop under the influence of
testosterone and the female’s ovarian hor-
mones.
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Review Questions
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Stage Period
Zygote Conception to 2 weeks • It enters a 2-week period of rapid cell divi-
sion and develops into an embryo.
• Fewer than half of zygotes survive beyond
the first 2 weeks.
• Within the first week, when the cell division
had produced a zygote of some 100 cells,
the cells began to differentiate.
• The zygote’s outer part attaches to the
uterine wall, forming the placenta, through
which nourishment passes.
• The inner cells become the embryo.
Fetus 9 weeks to birth • By the end of the sixth month, organs such
as the stomach are sufficiently formed and
functional to allow a prematurely born fetus
a chance of survival.
• Fetus is responsive to sound.
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Newborn
Review Questions
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Brain Development
Motor Development
Cognitive Development
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Social Development
- For many years, developmental psychologists reasoned that infants became attached to those
who satisfied their need for nourishment.
o Contradicted by Harlow’s “wire mother and cloth mother” studies.
o Contact is a key to attachment.
o Familiarity is another key to attachment.
- Some developmental psychologists believe that:
o No precise critical period for becoming attached. Human attachment develops gradually.
E.g. adoptive parents.
o Children, unlike ducklings, do not imprint.
- Some infants show secure attachment – in their mother’s presence they play comfortably.
When she leaves, they are distressed; when she returns, they seek contact with her.
o Sensitive parents tend to have securely attached infants.
- Some infants show insecure attachment – they are less likely to explore their surroundings.
When their mother’s leaves, they either cry loudly and remain upset or seem indifferent to their
mother’s going and returning.
Effects of Attachment
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Self-Concept
Child-Rearing Practices
Review Questions
1. Piaget believed that there are 4 stages of cognitive development. What are
they?
2. What is assimilation?
3. What is accomodation?
4. What is object permanence?
5. Describe the behaviour of an infant who shows secure attachment.
6. Describe the behaviour of an infant who shows insecure attachment.
7. What is critical period?
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Adolescence
Physical Development
• Puberty – the period of
· Puberty: sexual maturation, during
o Girls – 11 years old which a person becomes
• Starts with breast development capable of reproducing.
• Landmark is the first menstrual period (menarche) • Primary sex characteristics
o Boys – 13 years old – the body structures that
• Landmark is the first ejaculation. make sexual reproduction
possible.
• Secondary sex character-
istics – nonreproductive
sexual characteristics, such
Cognitive Development as female breasts and hops,
male voice quality, and
Developing Reasoning Power body hair.
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Developing Morality
· Piaget believed that children’s moral judgments build on their cognitive development.
· Kohlberg argued that as we develop intellectually we pass through as many as 6 stages of moral
thinking, moving from the simplistic and concrete toward the more abstract and principled. He
clustered the 6 stages into 3 basic level.
Level Description
Preconventional morality - Before age 9, most children have a preconventional morality of
self-interest. They obey either to avoid punishment or to gain
concrete rewards.
Conventional morality - Cares for others and upholds laws and social rules simply be-
cause they are the laws and rules.
- Being able to take others’ perspectives, adolescents may ap-
prove actions that will gain social approval or that will help
maintain the social order.
Postconventional morality - Affirms people’s agreed-upon rights or follows what one per-
sonally perceives as basic ethical principles.
- Appears mostly in the European and North American educated
middle class, which prizes individualism.
- Critics contend that the theory is biased against the moral rea-
soning of those in communal societies and also against Western
women.
Social Development
Forming an Identity
· Identity – one’s sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of
self by testing and integrating various roles.
· Adolescents usually try out different “selves” in different situations. This role confusion is resolved
by the gradual reshaping of a self-definition that unifies the various selves into a consistent and
comfortable sense of who one is.
Developing Intimacy
· Intimacy – in Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary develop-
mental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.
· Women, being more interdependent, use conversation to explore relationships; men use it to
communicate solutions.
· Women emphasize caring and provide most of the care to the very young and the very old.
· Men emphasize freedom and self-reliance.
· Gender differences in connectedness and other traits peak in late adolescence and early adult-
hood.
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Erik Erikson contended that each stage of life has its own “psychosocial” task:
Preschooler Initiative vs. guilt Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry
(3 to 5 years) out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to
be independent.
Elementary school Competence vs. inferiority Children learn the pleasure of applying them-
(6 years to puberty) selves to tasks, or they feel inferior.
Adolescence Identity vs. role confusion Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by
(teen years into 20s) testing roles and then integrating them to
form a single identity, or they become con-
fused about who they are
Young adulthood Intimacy vs. isolation Young adults struggle to form close relation-
(20s to early 40s) ships and to gain the capacity for intimate
love, or they feel socially isolated.
Middle adulthood Generativity vs. stagnation The middle-aged discover a sense of contrib-
(40s to 60s) uting to the world, usually through family
and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.
Late adulthood Integrity vs. despair When reflecting on his or her life, the older
(late 60s and up) adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or
failure.
Review Questions
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Adulthood
Physical Changes
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· The social clock varies from culture to culture and era to era.
· Life events are more important than one’s chronological age.
· Even chance events can have lasting significance because they often deflect us down one road
rather than another.
Adulthood’s Commitments
· Freud defined the healthy adult as one who is able to love and work. Erikson agreed, observing
that the adult struggles to attain intimacy and competence.
· Two basic aspects of our lives dominate adulthood:
1. Love
2. Work
Review Questions
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